Tribe: Navajo Nation
§ 1001. Purpose
The Children’s Code shall be liberally construed and interpreted to
effectuate the following legislative purposes:
A. To preserve and restore the unity of the family whenever possible to
provide for the care, protection and wholesome mental and physical development
of children coming within the provisions of the Children’s Code;
B. Consistent with the protection of the Navajo community, to prevent
children from committing delinquent acts and to offer a program of supervision,
care and rehabilitation; C. To achieve the purposes of the Children’s Code in a family environment
whenever possible, separating the child from parents and extended family only
when necessary for the child’s welfare or in the interest of public safety;
D. To separate clearly in judicial and other processes affecting children
under the Children’s Code the dependent child, the child in need of supervision
and the delinquent child, and to provide appropriate options for treatment and
rehabilitation of these children;
E. To provide a judicial division separate from the District Courts of
the Navajo Nation with procedures through which the provisions of the
Children’s Code may be executed and enforced, in which the parties are assured
of a fair hearing, and their constitutional and other legal rights recognized
and enforced; and
F. To provide a forum in which Navajo children charged to be delinquent
or in need of supervision in other jurisdictions may be referred for
adjudication and disposition, or for disposition alone.